RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Lovingkindness
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Whatever you intend,
whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will
become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop
meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on
lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)
Lovingkindness fails when it produces sentimentality. (Vm 9.93)
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Believe it or
not, lovingkindness is impersonal by nature. The feeling of care for
another is not dependent on the specific qualities of that person but
can be directed to anyone and everyone. This is what makes
lovingkindness unsentimental. You don’t love only if the person is a
family member or a friend. And you don’t love difficult people only if
they deserve it or you have forgiven them. Lovingkindness rises above
the personal.
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See if you can
discern, in your own experience, the difference between a feeling of
lovingkindness that is laced with a sense of self and one that is not.
See if you can sense the difference between the love you have for
someone dear to you and the universal lovingkindness you cultivate while
doing mettā practice. Personal connections are sentimental in a good sense, while lovingkindness transcends the personal.
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Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Compassion
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